“Tell me, and I will forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand.”

–Chinese philosopher Confucius

This saying is relevant more than ever when it comes to today’s L&D process regarding e-learning in the corporate sector. These figures can further demonstrate the importance of personalized content in e-learning.

It is estimated that a significant rise in the development of personalized content has occurred. Companies are increasing their budgets for developing customized content in training their employees, partners, stakeholders, and customers. By 2026, the e-learning market catering just to the corporate sector will likely reach a figure of $50 billion. A study further shows 83 percent of the respondent organizations have already invested in using learning management systems for their employees to deliver efficient training.

The questions often raised, then, are what does it mean to have personalized content for learning and how is it helpful in the learning and development process in the corporate world? This post will consider these two factors to see why the trend is changing the business world.

What Is Personalized Learning and Personalized Content in Learning?

Personalized learning is defined as offering training content to the learner that has been customized to meet their time, delivery method, and learning environment.

Organizations are taking a step ahead with developing personalized content with personalized learning. Employers are seeing the benefit of creating customized content for employees and the redundant nature of one-size-fits-all content. In 2010, Gallup revealed in a study that disengaged workplace leads to higher churn, depression, and employer anxiety.

If that was the case already in 2010, the increase in such a factor now is imperative. When a company develops personalized content for its employees’ learning, there is a chance to increase their engagement in the learning process.

How Is Personalized Content Developed?

Designing personalized content begins with developing a collaborative strategy, where an inclusive approach is taken into account. The strategy must begin and end with developing learning and education materials with the learner.

Three strategies can be put in place to develop personalized content in L&D.

1. Start With the Research

Create the content based on learners’ previous knowledge and experience then link the new content with the former.

2. Ask the Right Questions

Get to know what kind of content they like to study (such as videos, mini quizzes, reading materials, and so on).

3. Work on Feedback

After the course is finished, get the feedback and work on their responses to develop the content for the better.

With these steps in place for developing personalized content, focus on how it is becoming important in L&D.

The Importance of Personalized Content in L&D

When a company develops personalized content for the L&D of their employees, it includes relevant materials that also bridge the gaps of learning. It approaches the learning practice in a customized way to warrant that each participant can grasp the material at their own pace. Personalized content believes that every learner has their own L&D skills and abilities.

The process ensures these three key benefits:

1. Their Best Foot Is Put Forward

Customized content allows the learner to set the pace, which will help them develop their organization skills for better operation.

2. Improved Retention

Catering to what employees want to learn with the content warrants they are satisfied with the training and the new skills they develop. As a result, it will decrease employee churn.

3. Multidisciplinary Approach

With personalized content, learners can approach the material from different points of view. This improves the scope of understanding the matter instead of limiting it to a single space.

The entire process of personalized content for L&D allows the learners to articulate their views and reimagine their concepts and understandings from other perspectives. This helps them develop skills that they can use to serve the business better.

Final Words

In the last few years, organizations that aim to modernize their strategies have been investing heavily in developing personalized content. But it is not limited to customers only. Instead, it is being extended to the L&D teams. It helps the company’s and employees’ work synergize to improve the business.

About the Author

This guest blog post was written by Mohd Sohel Ather, a senior primary software engineer. He focuses on actionable and unique ideas that can be used to grow your business and make a real difference for your customers.